How is Child Marriage in India Violating the Convention of Children Rights?

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Child marriage in developing countries is violating the Convention of Children Rights. This legislation was set out to protect every child. Child marriage refers to a marriage or union whereby one or both of the partakers are under the age of eighteen (UNICEF, 2001). This essay is focusing on the question of what rights are being violated through child marriage and what are the reasons behind its violation. Poverty, low eduction levels and cultural influences have been found to be the reasons for this ongoing problem. Possible solutions to eradicate child brides are higher education levels for girls and satrengthening the rights system. This is being analysed by looking at the UN Children Rights and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (2006) replacing the Child Marriage Restraint Act (1929). This prohibits marriage of a girl under 18 years and under 21 years for a boy. The issue with child marriage is that young children are being robbed of their childhood, taken away from their safe environment, abused and do not have the right to be educated.

Child marriage is a practice that violates not only the fundamental rights of people, outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but also the inherent rights of children, summarised in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is a global issue, particularly prevalent in developing countries, where approximately one in three girls will be married by the time they are 18, where India is high-ranking in its prevalence of child marriage with approximately 47% of the females married by 18 (Girls Not Brides, 2014). Child marriage is in breach of several articles within the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). In the UDHR ...

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...ttp://wcd.nic.in/cma2006.pdf
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. (10th December 1948). Retrieved from http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
UNICEF. (2001, March). Child spouses. UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre. (7), 18. Retrieved from http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/291
UNICEF. (2007, December). Progress for children: A world fit for children statistical review 6. New York: UNICEF. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/Progress_for_Children_No_6_revised.pdf
UNICEF. (2012). Child Marriage. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html
United Nations & World Aids Campaign. (2004). Women, girls, HIV and AIDS. Strategies Overview and Background Note. Retrieved from http://www.etarc.org
World Health Organisation. (2013, March 07). Media centre- Child marriages: 39000 every day. Retrieved from http://www.who.int

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